MarketStEl

Quoting Vince Staten and Greg Anderson in their section on Kansas City in Real Barbecue, referring to Calvin Trillin's comments on Bryant's: "What other city can boast 'the single best restaurant in the world' -- and it's not even the best in town?" I'm surprised no other current resident weighed in on the topic, given the embarrassment of barbecue riches the city offers. Store these suggestions for your next swing through town: Gates' Bar-B-Q (1228 Brooklyn, Emmanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and the Paseo, and four other area locations) LC's (5901 Blue Parkway -- the original -- and somewhere in Lenexa) Oklahoma Joe's (47th and Mission Road, on the Johnson-Wyandotte county line) I know the first from years of delicious dining and the other two on the basis of their reputations. That's right: I've got some catching up to do myself.

Aren't you a Cheez Whiz partisan in the Great Cheesesteak Debate? If so, you've answered your own question!

I'm obviously falling down on the job! Must uphold my end of the bargain. Dirty little secret: I posess a Pennsylvania driver's license -- in fact, I'm the sole licensed driver in my household. Partner, a native Philadelphian, and roommate, ditto, never bothered to learn to drive; in Kansas City, it's a rite of passage. ObFood: I spent an epic four hours yesterday making the 2.5-hour drive back from Rehoboth Beach, Del., to Philadelphia. 1) Rehoboth is quite possibly the ultimate foodie resort destination (aside from things like the Food & Wine Festival at Aspen) -- unlike many shore resorts, it's lousy with restaurants ranging from good to outstanding, offering a wide variety of cuisines, including, at last count, Tex-Mex, Russian, Japanese, Thai, Indian, global fusion, French, Irish, and, of course, Chesapeake Bay. 2) My last act in Rehoboth was a visit to Peppers, the East Coast's leading hot sauce emporium, located in one of the outlet malls along Delaware Route 1. I departed with more bottles to add to my condiment creep, including three varieties of their own blue crab salsa, one bottle of Original Juan Batch 114 Jamaican Hot Sauce, a bottle of Zulu Zulu Piri Piri and a bottle of orange peel habanero sauce from Belize. Though I note that your own pantry seems a little light on the capsicum derivatives, I suspect you could appreciate all of these. Think I'll have to try that sometime. I've come to appreciate the Crock-Pot all over again since acquiring a one-hour commute in each direction daily. I often put mine in the service of making thermonuclear chili for parties (see suzilightning's foodblog for a recent example). You're off to a great start with that spice and condiment rack, but you're gonna have to do some work and maybe buy one of those Ikea bookshelves to hit the big time.

Oh, my. Oh, my, my. Oh, my, my, my. I thought that the editors of Gourmet had done their part on the high end -- Calvin Trillin did the job on the low end -- to disabuse people of this notion. Perhaps this reader was like France's Bourbon dynasty: He (or she) learned nothing and forgot nothing. Still, I love Reichl's summation. It further cements my high opinion of the magazine today.

Wharton in Morris County, New Jersey was originally called Port Oram. It was named after Robert Oram the manager for the New Jersey Iron Company who built the company store and worker's housing. It was renamed Wharton, after Joseph Wharton, who located his blast furnace complex in the town. Do you know if your Joseph might have been into iron manufacturing? ← That's the very same Joseph Wharton whose name graces the University of Pennsylvania's business school. They no longer use it as widely as they once did, but for many years, an anvil was the school's unofficial symbol. He made his money in mining, manufacturing, metallurgy and railroads. (He was also one of the founders of Bethlehem Steel Corporation.) His iron furnace may have been in New Jersey, but his home was Philadelphia. And so it goes -- yet another tap placed into the keg that is New Jersey. (The allusion is to Benjamin Franklin's description of the state as "a keg tapped at both ends" -- New York on the one and Philadelphia on the other.) This has been a most enjoyable blog. Thanks for offering us a reference guide to your life and eating habits!

Hi there! Stand by for the welcoming barrage of questions: I didn't think there was any room in North Jersey to grow tomatoes! Do they survive the trip up from Vineland? Your smoker looks like a New Braunfels. Is it? Where did you acquire your 'cue mojo? Any particular style you favor? That specimen in Post 15 looks mighty fine. And why did I have this mistaken impression that you were a Staten Islander? Okay, you can come out of the shelter now and resume blogging.

What flavor quark did you buy? Up, down, top, bottom, strange or charmed? Seriously: I haven't heard of this outside particle physics before. It looks like a dairy product -- what is it exactly? Shifting gears and hoping for an answer to this as well: So there is a town as well as a state forest named Wharton in New Jersey, I see. I've never found out whether this Wharton (these Whartons) are related to Joseph, the Philadelphia manufacturer who founded the nation's first collegiate business school in 1881. You're a librarian -- aren't you supposed to know things like this?

Missed this the first time... AFAIK, Sarcone's Deli made a damn good hoagie, but I hadn't heard they did cheesesteaks too. Of course, since the bread is as important as the fillings for either sandwich, and Sarcone's makes some of the best hoagie rolls in town (the same rolls are used for cheesesteaks), it wouldn't surprise me if Sarcone's did make a great cheesesteak. Which, in a sense, underscores Jaymes' point -- but... Giving MarketStEl the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he means we are here to educate our own palates. But that's certainly not the tone of much of this thread. And speaking just for myself, I happen to like the current education level of my own palate. I'm here in order to garner more delicious stuff with which to feed my already adequately-educated palate. I'm not here to look down my nose at those I deem to be less "informed" than I. "Regional" or otherwise. ← I hope I'm not coming off as judging those with different tastes from me harshly, and you are half right on your charitable statement above. I think it's also possible for someone who knows a cuisine to educate the palate of someone who doesn't. You do it more in this manner: "Here's what to look for in..." as opposed to "You poor, benighted fellow." In my rib example above, when my friend said they were the best ribs he ever had, I explained to him why I've had better, since in that case, the inferior quality was largely the result of preparation, not of taste -- their flavor really wasn't all that bad, but you could tell by their appearance and from their consistency in your mouth--a touch too much fattiness--that they had not been slow-smoked. Now, I will allow that there are probably those who prefer their ribs parboiled before finishing on a grill or in a smoker. That's fine, but technically speaking, those are not barbecued ribs. Someone prefers McDonald's burgers to Wendy's or Five Guys or In-n-Out? That's purely a matter of taste*, and as such, can't be argued.** I may not share that view, and most connoisseurs may not either, but what we think there is irrelevant to the person eating the burger. *or maybe not, if those recent studies that demonstrate the power of branding are any guide. **Which doesn't mean that I've never done this.

I don't know if I've said this here, but I did say this on the parallel discussion on Phillyblog: It might have been better all around if Paul or someone representing the Market had simply said "We think Rick Oliveri is a world-class p***k and we're tired of dealing with him," impolitic though that would have been. At least the cards would have been on the table. Agreed about the handling of the whole thing all the same. And I did tell Paul that the savvy move would have been to put the ball solidly in Rick's court by offering a lease with all the stuff he didn't like included. But most of us acknowledge this already. At least we have a little better understanding why they felt that wouldn't work now. chrisamirault: Point well taken, and, of course, I wouldn't stifle anyone's right to voice their opinions as they see fit. Hadn't thought of that particular aspect of "quirkiness" -- and it brings up a whole bunch of cultural assumptions that we haven't even tried to address in this discussion (after all, your counterexample comes from the Iberian peninsula, where afternoon siestas are part of the order of business in many places, in sharp contrast to the Anglo-Saxon Protestant work ethic). People could certainly disagree with my statement that "the merchant must inconvenience himself so the customer doesn't have to," though today's marketplace tends to punish such merchants unless they offer something so distinctive that customers will accept the inconvenience to get it (again, your counterexample applies here). To tie in a related topic on this board, the seasonal farmers' markets clearly fall into that latter category. The RTM also does in many respects. But is it so distinctive that it could continue as is and both hold onto and grow its customer base? That's the $64k question.

Vince Staten and Greg Anderson subscribe to this philosophy: In their book Real Barbecue, recently reissued and updated, they refuse to say a place is "the best" -- as far as they go is "as good as we've ever had." And they explain why: (Paraphrasing) For all they know, as they're eating the best barbecue ever, someone else, somewhere else, is building a pit, hanging a sign reading "BBQ," and serving 'cue the likes of which the world has not yet seen. That's a very sensible approach, IMO. Your last sentence is particularly true of readers' and viewers' polls. Editors' picks presumably reflect some degree of critical judgement, but it's not unheard of for a city magazine to prefer advertisers over non-advertisers, to pick a counterexample. Perhaps the better term is "legend"; nostalgic implies a long history, while effective marketing can build a legend in a short period of time. Salt Lick is the top candidate, followed by Stubb's, County Line, Rudy's. Essentially what you would get if you polled the general Austin population. ← So Mr. Stubb has a Q joint in Austin? I see his sauce on plenty of supermarket shelves in the Philadelphia area. Which brings me back to a persistent puzzlement of mine: Why Ollie Gates has never bothered to take his sauce national. Maybe it has to do with quality control.

This week's Philadelphia Business Journal contains a letter from RTM board member Richard Blades, written in response to an op-ed by Stephan Rosenfeld, who is Rick Oliveri's PR spokesman (and formerly SEPTA's PR chief), that ran in the previous issue. AFAIK, this is the first time that anyone in RTM management has gone public with management's side of the dispute. As the online edition is available only to print subscribers, I will include the three most pertinent paragraphs below: I have had conversations with a few Market merchants who have said that customers do get confused when merchants do not keep uniform operating hours, so perhaps that issue is not as trivial, and insisting on its enforcement not as hostile to the Market and its traditions, as critics would have it. I'll repeat myself here: In today's retail environment, it's the merchant who has to inconvenience himself so the customer doesn't have to. I'll repeat myself again: I don't see why the restaurants should be required to be open past lunchtime given the RTM's current operating hours, but if the Market management believes that requiring this would result in increased business for the Market as a whole -- including traffic that currently passes it by -- then I really can't quibble with their efforts to put this belief into action. If they prove un- or counterproductive, they can always drop the requirement later. And I understand that uniform operating hours was one of the bones of contention between Rick Oliveri and the management. The bottom line, however, is that enforcing a uniform-hours rule will not destroy the Market or its traditions. If you're going to criticize the RTM management, criticize them for allowing that bank promotion, not for this.

Bumping this up to call your attention to Connie Holt's comments, which appear on the Regional Commentary page of today's Inquirer. Harrisburg-area members will see this in the Sunday Patriot-News. It's also slated to run in the Scranton Times-Tribune, the Morning Call in Allentown and the Delaware County Daily Times.

I'm sure you weren't expecting a reply from a fellow Philadelphian, Andrew, but as this popped up on the home page with a title suspiciously close to that of my trip report, I thought I'd check it out. I would highly recommend Union to you. There's a bunch of other stuff in that trip report, but eventually, I do get to the dinner I had there with a great bunch of Seattleites. We didn't order the tasting menu; there were enough of us to put together a good sampling just ordering off the regular menu. I realize that won't be possible for you, though, so the tasting menu might be the better option there.

What distinguishes Tabasco in my book is not the pepper flavor but the vinegary bite. Most of the other Louisiana hot sauces don't have this characteristic, or at least not to the degree Tabasco does. I was able to pick it out in a cocktail sauce I ate last night.

BTW, for any of you following the Philly restaurant scene: I posted a writeup of Knock last night. As the place wasn't serving dinner, this is more of a preview than a review, but it does give you a feel for the place. Knowing the owner's track record, I predict this place will fall in the top category of gus_tatory's gay restaurant hierarchy.

I would include cheesesteak in the ranks of foods where the mediocre versions aren't all that bad -- but trust me, it is possible to make a truly bad cheesesteak: I've had sandwiches featuring dry, tough, and even burnt steak; cheese sauce with a chemical aftertaste; overcooked onions; or some combination of these, all served up on either too-soft or too-chewy rolls. I can't say for certain that my own notions of the "best" barbecue in Kansas City aren't colored by nostalgia. I know from the comments of knowledgeable current residents that there are several places that either rival or have surpassed my personal fave Gates'. However, you will still find current residents recommending Gates' Bar-B-Q, so I don't think that sentiment has completely clouded my judgement here.

I dunno...I can think of at least one occasion where I feel confident in saying that someone I was with judged something he ate "the best" because he just didn't know any better. Someone not bought up around barbecue and those who fix -- and worship -- it might not be able to recognize ribs that had been parcooked as opposed to slow smoked. And if the parcooked ribs have the right flavor notes -- the barbecue sauce can supply some of the smokiness -- that someone won't realize that what he is eating is not the genuine article. If it's not possible to educate one's palate, what are we all doing here anyway?

The Wood brothers' new, comfortably classy restaurant and bar, Knock, opened for business tonight in the space that eats restaurants on the street floor of my building at the 12th and Locust corner. One possible explanation for the star-crossed fates of Knock's predecessors in this space may be that Pamplona's ghost haunted them all. The one successful restaurant to occupy this space, Dmitri Chimes' pioneering tapas establishment left its minimalist decor and noisy ambience as a legacy for every short-lived eatery that followed it, though Lula did manage to quiet things down with its redo of the space. (If that restaurant had been able to figure out what it wanted to be, I might not be writing this. But it wasn't, and I am.) I am pleased to report that Bill and Bob Wood -- Bill's the gay one, the community fixture everyone knows as "Woody" -- have successfully performed an exorcism with their extreme makeover of this space into a warm, comfortable, quietly elegant place: This space will be the main dining area when Knock begins serving dinner tomorrow. The smaller space behind the curtain can be closed off for private groups. The bar's liquor cabinet has yet to arrive, but this shot should make clear that they have managed to make do quite well for the time being with some Ikea bookshelves. I don't care if it's fake -- the fireplace signals sociability in the bar area. The kitchen was not officially open, but chef <mumble -- I did manage to meet him tonight*> did turn out some finger foods for the opening-night crowd, including the biggest shrimp I've yet seen, accompanied by a Tabasco-laced cocktail sauce: and a tasty flatbread pizza with mushrooms, Asiago cheese and parsley. Check out the top char on this baby, which I'd say is a good 15-mile pie: Neither of these items are on the menu -- yet; the chef explained to me that he did plan on developing a full pizza and light-fare menu for the bar. (Current options in the flatbread pie department are a bit more creative: goat cheese, basil and fig spread, or citrus olive oil, lobster and St. Andre brie.) Woody's enjoyed a reputation for serving delicious pub fare under Wood's ownership -- the bar's burger was IMO one of the better in town, underappreciated because served at a gay bar -- and these previews suggest that this reputation will survive the Woods' move to more impressive digs and a menu to match intact. Bob Wood told me that their vision for Knock is one of a place where everyone in the neighborhood will feel comfortable just dropping in, and while the entree prices strike me as just a touch higher than everyday-dining level ($11 to $26, with most dishes between $20 and $25), there's also an extensive menu of soups, salads and starters that should satisfy lighter eaters and budget diners ($4-$10). The menu items all display a creative spark and a broad streak of global influence (sample for purposes of illustration: yellowtail tuna three ways -- tartare, ceviche, and pan-seared, encrusted with wasabi and sesame). (Edited to add: Knock also boasts an extensive wine and beer selection. Both offer a wide variety of styles from all over, and again, you can find a bargain or spend your brains out on both lists, depending on your preferences. An architectural feature also worth noting is a touch of green -- namely, a waterless urinal in the restroom.) Woody is a highly respected figure in the gay business community, and the good turnout on opening night probably reflects his stature. (I also felt a bit like I was attending a family reunion, as many of the customers and staff I know from around the Gayborhood, including at the old Woody's. *When I introduced myself to the chef, his response was "Yeah, I've seen you around lots -- you walk past here a lot, but I didn't know you lived in this building.") If tonight was any predictor of the future, the food, service, and ambience -- along with banishing Pamplona's ghosts, the Woods have also gotten the ambient noise down to a comfortable level -- should keep people coming back. If Bump is the stereotypical "gay restaurant," where food follows fashion and looks better than it tastes, and Valanni is the gay-friendly restaurant on the DL, then Knock bids to be the happy medium, the restaurant where gay people will take their straight friends -- and vice versa. Knock 225 South 12th Street (at Locust) 215-925-1166 At present, open for dinner only Monday-Sunday; a weekday and Saturday lunch menu and Sunday brunch are in the works Nearest transit service: Of course, Knock is convenient to all the major SEPTA routes serving that part of Center City: both rapid transit lines (Market-Frankford: 11th Street; Broad Street: Walnut-Locust), Regional Rail (Market East), and the bus routes that operate on Market, Chestnut, Walnut, Locust, 11th, 12th and Broad streets. It also is right next to 12th-13th and Locust station on PATCO.

The funny thing is, your cheesesteak example actually violates the principle. The tourists go to the Legendary places, and even though two of the three Legends -- Pat's and Jim's -- have won "Best of Philly" awards in the past (Geno's never has, and the editors of Philadelphia retired Pat's from competition after five of them), those in the know wound not include either of them on an up-to-date Best Cheesesteak list. Good? Yes. Worth a visit? Yes, though IMO in the case of both the establishments at Cheesesteak Corner, more for the overall experience than for the cheesesteaks themselves. The Best? Informed cheesesteak eaters would quarrel with that assessment. Word on the street these days is that the Prince of Steaks (Steve's in the Northeast) has stolen the throne from the King of Steaks (Pat's). Steve has won a few Best of Phillys of his own, though.

And don't forget the home version of the fridge shot!

Sampled 'em. Must buy some on a future visit.

Thanks for the cheese shot! I've got a standing invitation from Trent Hendricks to pay his farm in Telford a visit to experience cheese that will make me forget Pennsylvania Noble. (I've had Hendricks Farms' Telford Tomme and believe he can make good on this challenge.) Telford being inaccessible via SEPTA, I'm going to have to rely on a fellow Pennsylvania board denizen to ferry me up soon. Pennsylvania appears to be developing -- make that has developed -- a first-rate artisanal cheese industry! Any dairy farms producing cheese in New Jersey?

Today was my first foray to the Headhouse market. I was quite impressed, and too focused on scoping out the place and figuring out what I wanted to buy to take pictures, even though I had my camera with me. Didn't jot down the names of the farms from which I purchased produce today. I do remember one stand I liked: North Star Farm, with its one-price policy for all (or almost all) of its fruit: $1.75/lb, mix and match. I bought four large white peaches and some plums from them. There were some absolutely gorgeous peppers at the stand just south of North Star's. I brought some long, narrow, red sweet (Sweet? "Sweet," the woman assured me) heirloom Johnny <mumble>s and three shallots, which she assured me were keepers. After visiting the Food Trust table, asking the representative there how their Chester market was doing (it's much smaller -- only two farms -- but doing well, she told me), and picking up some recipes, I decided I wanted to try one for dinner tonight. So I went back to this farmstand and bought two bunches of beets. I passed on the Birchrunville Blue, but I'll be back to try some of this unusually mild blue cheese. I managed to convince my roomie whose idea of good eating apples is limited to Red Delicious to let me buy him a variety he's never tried -- Honey Crisp apples from <mumble> farm in Adams County. I learned something new today: Pennsylvania has a sizable apple-growing industry in Adams County! (Isn't this where Lori in PA lives?) I bought a pint container (five apples) and ate one on the way from the Headhouse market to the Reading Terminal Market. These are great eating apples -- honey-sweet as advertised with a slight note of tartness at the end. Finally, I bought a Sugar Baby watermelon from <mumble>. All told, I spent $19 at the Head House Square market for five apples, four peaches, eight plums, two bunches of beets, three shallots, one watermelon and ten long frying peppers. I'd probably have spent about one-third less for the same haul at OK Lee and Iovine's, but it wouldn't be as fresh. This looked like produce worth saving in those ethylene-absorbing green bags. Tonight for dinner: Pork chops (from Giunta's in the RTM), mac and cheese (sorry, no Velveeta -- real cheese this time) and teriyaki beets (the recipe I decided to try). Maybe I'll season the pork chops with ginger and soy sauce. One final comment: Given that the Food Trust's offices are located in the Reading Terminal Market and that the RTM helped the trust get its markets off the ground, how could anyone portray this as an us-versus-the-Reading Terminal Market story the way Bruce Schimmel did?

Even though it's clear LaBan goofed on identifying the cut -- and, it appears, so did the waiter -- I still don't see how this is actionable in a court of law, especially if the dip in business was caused not by the misidentification of the steak but by the opinion he gave of it. That was why I wrote the "correction" above the way I did. That said, it does seem ridiculous that this affair has come to this point when a simple clarification printed in the paper would have satisfied Plotkin, as Katie said. Aside: I brought this up with an acquaintance who drew a connection to that hilarious review of the Misconduct Tavern's secret-code system for obtaining bargain-priced burgers and cocktails in PW.

Nice shots, though it looks like you reduced these a bit overmuch. Your library kitchen looks more like a home kitchen -- I guess from this and other posts here that this librarian-foodie connection is serious! But not serious enough, it appears, for that fridge looks like it could use more condiments. How's your home fridge and pantry stack up by comparison? We all must eat to live, but for most of us, skipping a meal or a snack isn't a life-or-death affair. You've now posted twice to the effect that for you and your husband, it matters if you don't eat. I am most curious to learn why this is so and how this may or may not affect your everyday routines, which you've said you'd get to in the course of this blog.